Sean Penn has his sights set on space -- and is heading to TV to do it.

The two-time Oscar winner stars in his first major TV role in Hulu's The First, where he plays an astronaut attempting the first human mission to Mars. The series, set in the near future, centers on the astronaut team and their families as they struggle with the perilous decision that could end in disaster -- or make human history.

"What we do is dangerous," Penn says in the trailer, before realizing that he doesn't know if he's willing to take the risk.

"[Acting] can be great when you’re working with good actors or good directors or good writing as an exercise, but do I have a belief that it has a lasting value? Maybe, I could make the argument intellectually," he explained. "But I don’t have a visceral -- I’m not in love with that anymore."

There was clearly something about The First that Penn just couldn't say no to, however. All eight episodes of the Hulu seriesdebut on Sept. 14.